Hamburg, December 10, 2019 – The skin care company Beiersdorf has become a member of the Global Shea Alliance (GSA) in September
2019. Founded in 2011, GSA comprises 500 members from 35 countries, including
women’s associations, suppliers, brands, retailers and NGOs. Through
public-private partnerships, the GSA promotes sustainability in the industry,
defines quality practices and standards, and improves the living conditions of
shea collectors and local communities. Shea butter is a sustainable and
increasingly important natural raw material for many Beiersdorf products, such
as body and lip care products.
In
cooperation with the GSA and shea supplier AAK, a Swedish-Danish company,
Beiersdorf will support 10,000 shea collectors in Ghana and Burkina Faso from December
2019 onwards, as part of the AAK sustainability program Kolo Nafaso. The aim of the five-year development is to support the
women collectors in the areas of health and safety, productivity optimization,
and commercial expertise. “With this approach, we are promoting the
development of rural communities by educating the women collectors on how to
further develop their business and hence help them to earn a steady income and raise
their standard of living,” says Julia Beier, Responsible Sourcing Manager
at Beiersdorf.
Women
play a central role in the shea value chain. Traditionally, it is their
responsibility to collect the shea fruits and process them into shea butter. As
an important source of food and income for the women’s families, shea
contributes to their improved livelihood and enables their children to attend
school. Lisette Townsend, Business Development Director at AAK comments on this
cooperation: “We are delighted to welcome Beiersdorf as a sustainability
partner supporting initiatives with the women shea collectors engaged in our
AAK Kolo Nafaso direct sourcing program. Investment in commercial,
environmental and quality training projects enables and promotes knowledge
sharing among the women’s groups, and this in turn has long-term socio-economic
benefits for the whole community. It’s a win-win outcome.”
Shea butter is known as
a hydrating skin all-rounder. It is called Africa’s “women’s gold” as
it has become indispensable in the body care and cosmetics industry due to its
protective and nourishing properties. It grows in 21 African countries, with a
majority of exports supplied from the West African countries of Burkina Faso,
Ghana, Mali, Benin, Togo, Nigeria and Ivory Coast. Only there, in the so-called
“Shea Belt”, does the shea fruit or Karité tree grow. It can live for
over 300 years and bears its first shea fruits, after an initial growth period
of 15 to 20 years.
From December 2019,
Beiersdorf will have a new product on the German market – made from pure shea
butter. It is based on the principles of direct and ethical trade and ensures
traceability back to the women’s groups in West Africa. The idea for the NIVEA
Limited Edition “NIVEA VON HERZEN – 100% PURE SHEA BUTTER” came from
four Beiersdorf employees who are personally involved in Burkina Faso with their
own social projects on the ground. With the “Freedom to Innovate” program it took them only nine months from the
idea to its implementation. Julia Beier, Responsible Sourcing Manager and one
of the initiators, explains: “We wanted to enrich our NIVEA assortment
with a product that only contains one raw material – pure shea butter – which is
sustainably and ethically sourced, and at the same time create awareness about
the women empowerment topic of shea sourcing.” The NIVEA Limited Edition
contains 100% sustainably sourced shea butter from West Africa. The entire
value chain is transparent and traceable back to the women groups who collect
the shea fruits. The product will be available in four different designs from
December onwards in the NIVEA Online Shop and in the NIVEA Haus stores in
Hamburg and Berlin for a limited time. The selling price is 8.90 Euro for a
15ml tin. For every product sold, Beiersdorf will donate one Euro to the two social
projects in Burkina Faso that are privately supported by the initiators of the “NIVEA
VON HERZEN” idea.
More information on Beiersdorf’s commitment to
sustainability is available in its 2018 Sustainability Review, which is available at www.beiersdorf.com/sustainability.